1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a technology for controlling a micro-robot using a transfer robot.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A micro-robot represents a robot that has a micro size, and has been applied to medical industries, aerospace industries, national defense industries, and so on according to the form and use thereof through various methods.
A micro-robot in the form of an endoscope is used for imaging the inside of a small intestine and a large intestine, and has a size ranging from several micrometers to several millimeters.
In addition, the micro-robot for medical industries is used in a surgery and a diagnosis process as the micro-robot requires a minimum invasion when inserted into a body and ensure a local-regional access without restriction.
Methods of driving a micro-structure and a micro-robot are achieved by vibration, light, heat and electrostatic, or by directly transferring electrical energy.
A conventional micro-robot driving method using a magnetic field is achieved using various coil systems, in which each coil controls input electrical energy to drive a micro-structure or a micro-robot according to a correlation between magnetic fields of the coils.
In general, the micro-robot driving method using a magnetic field has a working area in the form of a hexahedron, and in a currently used system, the working area is set to have a width of 1 cm, a length of 1 cm, and a height of 1 cm.
In other words, the working area that corresponds to a space formed by mutual operation of a plurality of coils has a significantly small size, and in order to physically expand the working area, the size of a coil needs to be increased or a higher electrical energy needs to be supplied, which causes limitation in applying the micro-robot driving method using a magnetic field to the micro-robot.
That is, the method of increasing coil sizes has a physical limitation and the method of increasing electrical energy lowers the efficiency of a control device and a driver that are used to drive the corresponding coils, which also causes an increase in energy consumption.